2015

Scout and Gracie: First Class Co-Pilots

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope it was as relaxing and refreshing for you as it was for Andy and me. We drove the Turtle and spent Christmas day with two of my three sisters in Battle Ground, playing games and eating (and eating and eating, oof!) and playing with all 8 nieces and nephews who were present. We missed you others! We then urban camped in Portland so we could spend the rest of the weekend with friends, playing games and bowling. It was great.

I was so thrilled to receive a few requests for this next post—not only because it’s exciting that the blog is really keeping us connected to our family and friends, as we’d hoped—but also because the request was to highlight Scout and Gracie! I love to talk about these two; they’re the very best animals of all time. Aside from yours, of course.

If you find it absurd that we have a dog and a cat in a little 21′ Class C RV, you’re in the majority. Especially considering Scout is a Border Collie with all the sheep-herding energy that entails, and Gracie is what you get when you cross a panther with a circus clown. But we knew that sacrificing their beloved back yard would pay off when they realized that every time we open the door, they get a new back yard with exciting new smells and lots more time in the day to play!

We’ll start with the bigger success story. Scout has been loving the new life. I’ve been working from the Turtle most days, which means I’m available to take him out for more frisbee time and walks. Gracie, on the other hand, has had a harder time. While we’re on the island, she’s confined to the Turtle since we’re right next to a road where some people drive by at 45 mph. Better safe than sorry for now. Their very different personalities have dictated much of how we have dealt with their needs in this transition.

So this is Scout in his natural state—begging for frisbee time.

He absolutely hates having his picture taken, so it’s really difficult to capture his sweetly relaxed moments. The moment he sees you raising the camera up toward him, he darts away! We’re not sure why this is, though we think it has something to do with clicker training, as he has a panic reaction to snaps, beeps, and clicks. Every now and then, he’ll bolt into his den, cowering and fearful, and after some detective work we’ll realize it was because we were clipping our nails, or chewing gum. . . you never know with this guy!

We got Scout when he was 2 years old (he’s 4 now), and he’d already had three owners, so we have a lot of unanswered behavior questions. Consequently, we are just happy when we can sneak up on him and grab a half-blurry photo as he exits the room! The only exception is when we hold the frisbee in front of him. Frisbee trumps all fear for Scout. So you can guarantee that in any picture of him where he looks like a proper dog, there is a frisbee being held behind the camera.

When we have no Bribe Frisbee, we end up with far more photos that look like this one:

Or they’re like this one, where he is slinking out of the shot like a feral African wolf:

Or just the back of his head.

But when he’s not avoiding photos, he’s just a loving, hilarious, playful, awkward, sensitive, strange dog. He’s the best adventure companion, and is up for anything!

And then we have Gracie. I call Gracie the Gateway Cat, because even people who insist they have no positive feelings about cats have to admit that they love this weird girl. She is curious, and lovey, and adventuresome, and bizarre, and is essentially the Dennis the Menace of the animal kingdom.

She’s always getting herself into trouble! The world is her playground. She’s also earned herself the nickname “The Anti-Project.” Any time we begin a project, Gracie is there to interfere in some way.

When you’re trying to change a lightbulb:

When you’re trying to do the dishes:

When you’re trying to change the bobbin:

When you’re trying to carefully measure and cut fabric:

You can imagine that with this much energy, we’ve had to work out a few modifications to make indoor life tolerable for Gracie. I bought a number of toys to keep her active, and we play much more together than we did when she played outside all day at the old house. I will also admit here that we bought her a tiny harness! I agree that it looks absurd to take a cat out on a leash, but on those days when she sits at the door and yells and yells about it, we’ve just got to let her out. We connect her leash to a thin length of paracord, and it seems to tide her over until we travel somewhere she can run off leash.

Gracie is either operating at 100% or 1%, and when she’s done causing trouble, she sleeps like a log! The adorable positions she finds herself in are so sweet.

We just love our strange pack. Enjoy the new year with yours! Ok, got to go to take Scout out for a frisbee break now! 🙂

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 1: Flooring

Well, it’s been raining virtually nonstop for the last few weeks in Portland, and Sauvie Island seems as if it’s ready to admit defeat and just merge with the Columbia River and call it a day. So I’m working from the island today, appreciating how warm and dry I am inside, and thinking about how just a year ago I was dreaming of this very scenario, feeling like the day would never come!

*Newly-formed lakes and sunken pumpkins on Sauvie Island not pictured. It has been raining so hard, one photo would send my phone right into a bag of rice.

These days, as we sit in the Turtle, eating dinner at the table or climbing up the ladder into our cozy lofted bed, we sometimes take for granted how much work actually went into this project. Because we gave ourselves such a tight deadline, we didn’t have time to stop and appreciate each accomplishment as it was crossed off the list, because there was another line item right below it requiring immediate attention. The moment we crossed one finish line, we’d look up and see there was another lap ahead of us!

A portion of the list.

If you’re thinking of taking on a similar project, or if you’re just curious how we got from Point A to Point B, here I’ll be discussing our process, and what we learned along the way. I will admit, our experience was made much easier due to Andy’s crazy number of useful skills! But if you’re like me and aren’t handy with welding, car mechanics, woodworking, and wiring lighting (among Andy’s many other contributions), don’t despair! The most inspiring thing about Andy is that when he comes across a job that requires skills he doesn’t have in his personal toolbox, he does research online, buys books, and reads the blogs of others who are skilled in that field. He then gets the needed tools for the job, and just gives it a go. Personally, I tend to get intimidated by new large-scale tasks that feel like they should require a professional. But throughout this project, following Andy’s lead, I found myself feeling empowered and excited to see what I could learn and accomplish. If I can fiberglass and epoxy a floor, anyone can!

The quality of this photo is terrible, but the cuteness is top shelf.

Our first goal in the refurbishment was to strip down the interior of everything we wanted to update. This included nearly all soft surfaces, as the Turtle is 30 years old and these tend to hold on to dirt and odor. . . and the design sensibilities of 1985.

So as it was the first change we made to the Turtle, for this portion of the blog, let’s discuss flooring.

This is one of the only photos we have of the carpet before Andy pulled it out – just a teeny slice visible in the bottom left corner. But you get the idea.

A bit more carpet shown here. We just got so excited to get started, we didn’t get a whole lot of “before” photos before things started changing!

First, Andy ripped out the carpets and the subsequent one million carpet staples. I’d like to say I’m exaggerating the number, but I kind of am not. I worked on just a 30″x30″ portion and the resulting blisters were highly impressive.

Underneath the carpet was the OSB flooring we were expecting to find. Due to its age and thickness, it tended to sag quite a bit when walked on, so Andy proposed reinforcing it with sheets of fiberglass cloth and epoxy. At this point, I’m going to use the pronoun “we” when I discuss our work on this project, because I now am a fully qualified epoxy applier, and proud of it! Though of course Andy did much of the up-front work before training me—but I felt very pleased with myself when I realized that I can now strengthen any old floor I like!

In a few areas, the flooring had rotted out pretty significantly. Ever the optimist, Andy was pleased that it was an easy early indicator of where we had leaks that we needed to fix, before finding out the hard way when the rain hit! So he cut out the soft blackened area and replaced it with another piece of OSB that he cut to fit.

So, in small increments, we 😉 laid sheets of fiberglass cloth over the floor of the turtle and rolled thin layers of epoxy over it with a small roller, eventually covering the full surface area and applying additional layers in the weaker spots. Between each layer, we sanded it down to keep it nice and smooth, as portions of the fiberglass tend to raise up a bit here and there.

Halfway epoxied. (Guess which half!)

It was so smooth and shiny that Andy originally wanted to leave it as it was. Truthfully, it really had a neat industrial quality to it, but as it was going to be our home, I was hoping for something a little warmer. He cared less than I did about this issue, so we agreed to find flooring to install over the OSB.

After researching a number of ideas for the flooring surface, we decided on vinyl stick-on tiles. They’re fairly durable, inexpensive, and if any damage is done to a portion of the floor, we can just pull it up and lay a new one in its place. Considering the fact that we plan to play hard while on our adventures, neither of us wants to tiptoe around the Turtle trying to keep it pristine. But we also don’t want to take all this time just to trash it either! So it seemed like the best route.

The majority of the options we found were square parquet-style tiles, which we liked, but I had my heart set on long planks. After some research, we found exactly what we were looking for at Lowes: cherry “wood” planks with some textured striations to give it a more realistic wood feel. They sell them both by the box as well as individually, and are relatively easy to cut to size.

Aside from the fact that the Turtle has some ca-raaazy angles, installation was fairly painless. I’d imagine if you have a more uniform and rectangular vehicle, you’d have an easier time than we did. The Turtle, though, is made up of friendly-looking but unpredictable curves and turns, so both we and the box cutter were put to the test.

But we got it done, and there you have it! Brand new floors. They’ve been holding up great, and with all the rain and mud we’re experiencing out here lately, I’m so appreciating the ease of hard surfaces as opposed to a muddy carpet to clean! And with the recent addition of a few navy runners, it really feels like home.

The Very Beginning

The question we hear most often is, “How did this plan come about, anyway?”

The story goes like this:

Andy and I had been living in our little house in John’s Landing for a few years, and loved the space, the neighborhood and all our good friends there. We were lucky in that we were right on the bike trail that gets us all around Portland, we had walkable access to restaurants we loved, good coffee options, and our favorite tap room that allows dogs! (If you’re ever in John’s Landing, check out NW Growlers; everyone there is so friendly and there are loads of dogs to play with. Also, a sweet little pig named Q-bert who doesn’t seem to mind that Scout is obsessed with him.)

Scout and Q-bert: a friendship for the ages.

Sweet little Amos, the bartender’s dog, who our friend Lisa asserts was made in a button factory.

But the highlight of our location was that we had beach access right across Macadam Blvd., barely over a block from our front door! Our summers were spent walking back and forth from home to the Willamette River Trail with our tubes on our backs and Scout pulling anxiously on his leash for some frisbee time in the river. We’d plunk our tubes in the water, paddle out a ways, and drop anchor (a rock for me and a chunk of lead for Andy). There we’d float, drink a few beers, get some sun, and chat with the friends we’d often invite along. Most hot days, Andy would get home from work, change into his swim trunks, and we’d be on the river in 10 minutes, staying until the sun went down. Our front porch looked like a beach house with the float tubes at the ready and a consistent layer of sand!

Andy and our friend Jason enjoying the spot.

Stop taking pictures and throw the frisbee already!

So one day, Andy and I were bobbing around on the river and enjoying ourselves throughly. Andy made a comment about how he wished he didn’t have to go to work at all, and wondered how we could make that moment a lifestyle. What we had a hard time being able to justify was why we spent so much time working for the majority of our time, just to have small slivers of quality time outside, enjoying each other’s company and playing in nature!

I found this quote which summed up our conversation perfectly:

We started tossing ideas around, and I think it was Andy who mentioned living in an RV and traveling. I wholeheartedly agreed, and we began making lists and plans!

Just a hilarious picture of Scout riding in the car.

What was working in our favor was that I had recently graduated, and Andy was in a position at his job where he could potentially work remotely. He had also just sold his house in Seattle, so he was no longer tied to that project and also had a little walking around money. So we began making plans. One day about month later, I got an email from Andy with a link to a Craig’s List post for a cute little 1985 Class C RV. We went out to take a look, and once Andy determined the bones and major working parts were in good shape, we bought it!

This was just 10 minutes after we bought the Turtle, when we pulled in for a little lunch and celebration!

Our original plan was to just work away on it in our free time, and move in when the project was complete. But as the year went along, we realized that it was going to take us exactly the amount of time we gave ourselves to complete it. With an infinite deadline, we’d just work and work until it was perfect, which would take an infinite amount of time! We also realized how much project time we were going to lose once the Portland rain and shorter days hit.

In the spring of 2015, we decided to make the deadline the end of September. As we all now know, that deadline did get pushed back by a month, but after months of hard nonstop work, we did it! We had to remind our friends what our faces looked like afterward, but it was worth it. With a deadline, we pushed ourselves much harder, and made quicker decisions. It made it easier to prioritize tasks, and helped us not to dwell on small details. We still have some things we’d have like to have completed, but the Turtle is comfortable and livable, and let’s be honest, at this point we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves without some projects on the list. 🙂

The Turtle “After”

So now is the point where we get to show the result of a year of hard work on our tiny home! I’m typing this while drinking coffee at the table and listening to the rain on the roof while keeping nice and warm inside the Turtle. Looking back at the “before” photos, it feels a little unbelievable! This crazy old van is now our cozy home.

I was going to post side-by-side “before and after” photos today, but realized that since I took the “after” photos on a grey and rainy afternoon, the impact doesn’t do it justice, as the “before” pictures were taken on a bright sunny day! So that post is on the horizon.

Here we are!

It kind of feels like a boat. I like that.

Kitchen and Dining Room

Bunk beds!

Love the Tardis painting by my talented brother-in-law David

Andy cut down and refinished an old desk he’s had for years to make the table

We love the no-spill bowls for the pets

Andy picked this fabric! We promise not to over-do the turtle references, but it was super cute and coordinated nicely with the other prints

Maximizing the limited closet space

Nothing we own can be larger than 10″H x 9″D

I love the wood Andy installed next to the new upholstery pattern.

And there we have it! I’ll post more pictures soon!

Why We’re Here

Hello!

So as you and everyone within earshot knows, we are absolutely loving life in the Turtle! It is a great experiment and a serious adventure. So while we’re starting out here, I thought I’d briefly explain that as we are very new to this lifestyle, I began the blog for two purposes. The first is to document our journey so family, friends, and anyone at all who is interested can follow along with us and enjoy our exploits.

Andy adventuring.

The second–and the one we are most passionate about–is to discuss the process and how much we’re learning in order to help out others who may be interested in a similar venture! Especially for those who are adopting an older vehicle to refurbish, we have learned so much that we’d love to share, and we want to be the resource for others that we felt we were lacking when we started out.

Gracie adventuring.

The bulk of the full-time RV-ing books we found are written for those who are retired, bought a relatively new vehicle, and plan to live primarily in RV parks. We will certainly find ourselves in parks as needed, and as our first few weeks on Sauvie Island have proven, it’s a comfortable and relaxing way to enjoy your RV. But our main goal is to generally be surrounded by nature for most of the time, with the remaining time spent visiting friends who we aren’t able to see nearly as much as we’d like to, due to jobs, and bills, and air fare, and never, ever enough vacation time.

Scout adventuring.

So keep up with us for whatever reason suits you best!

Amy adventuring.

If you’d like to hear specific tips on gutting and refurbishing your RV, we are excited to share! We did nearly everything on our own, from painting the exterior, to upholstering the interior, to welding the front bumper so we could bring our bikes along, to installing solar panels so we can boondock for longer periods of time.

If you’re interested in seeing what National Parks we explore first (we’re aiming to see them all!), tales from of all corners of the US (and eventually South America), and most importantly, lots of photos of Scout and Gracie (obviously), then we’d love to have you join us!

Oh, and please bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of WordPress. The posts will eventually look brilliant, I promise, but for now at least they’re live! 🙂

We’re IN!

Ahhhh! We live in the Turtle now!

My intention was to post progress photos as the changes happened, but WOW we were busy, and finishing the Turtle took precedence over writing about it. So the timeline is going to jump around a bit here! In my upcoming posts, I’ll discuss the process and everything we learned along the way as we renovated the Turtle. (Spoiler alert: It’s a LOT)

For now, though, let’s talk about where we are! This is what the Turtle looks like now:

The Turtle in its natural habitat.

Can you believe it? We love it so much! It’s hard to believe that we’re finally at this point. We were just working away with our heads down for so long that it was hard to recognize or enjoy the accomplishments as they happened. We’d cross a major item off the list and just move on to the next item. So to look at it now is thrilling because we actually have the time to see all the work we put into it! We do still have a number of things we’d like to work on as time goes on, but all the big things that make it livable are complete.

Mad Max-style.

So at the end of October, we moved out of our cozy little home in John’s Landing and into the shiny blue Turtle! We had it parked in the driveway and were simultaneously working on it and packing up the house for a move throughout October. (What were we thinking?) It was funny towards the end, sleeping in the Turtle and waking up to walk in a fuzzy robe across the driveway and inside to make coffee and get started on projects. Our neighbors probably have plenty of tales to tell. 🙂

We now live, for the month of November, in a quiet little RV park on Sauvie Island. This is absolutely the ideal time of year to be out here. Sauvie Island is a destination during the summer because of the beautiful sandy beach so close to Portland. During fall, people come for the corn mazes and pumpkin patches. But that’s all passed now, so it’s just beautiful silent farm land with bright fall colors everywhere you look!

We arrived later in the evening on Halloween, after spending the morning having a delicious brunch made for us by friends and then finalizing some things around the house. It had been beautiful and clear the day before, but on moving day, it was absolutely pouring. By the time we arrived at the site, our shoes and coats were soaked through. And for some reason, my current application of hair dye wasn’t holding the color as well as it usually does, and I looked like I had a head wound with all the red rivers running down my face! But we got settled in just fine and sat on the couch just marveling that it’s actually, finally, really happening. Super-perk: the sound of the rain on the roof is absolutely divine.

Our first week has been awesome, with a few challenges.

Pros:
Right in front of the Turtle is a huge grassy area that Scout is very pleased to have in his life. Frisbee time is paramount to every other aspect of life–he is a Border Collie, after all–and having such easy access to grass means Amy and Andy are more likely to add an extra session or two to the day.

Blurry photo; it was sprinkling so I just took a quick shot.

It’s so quiet out here.
Amazon delivers all the way out here, so all the things we didn’t realize we’d need are still available to us–motion-activated light bars for the stairs, pack towels to save space in the shower bag, camp chairs for the patio, dehumidifier, etc.
This park has a bathroom and shower, so while we figure out that whole tanks and hoses situation, we will be covered. We have a neighbor who is generously showing us the ropes, so we should be pros in no time!
The stars!

Cons:
Gracie has been an outdoor kitty for most of her life, and is her happiest when she is adventuring. Because we’re right near the road and also have heard coyotes at night, she’s been exclusively an indoor kitty for the time being, and is NOT happy about it.

Sorry Gracie. It’s temporary.

So, that’s what I’ve got for now! I have loads more to cover regarding the process, and now that I have free time, I’ll be able to post it.

Farewell from the Turtle!

The Turtle “Before”

So let me catch you all up on where we began, and how far we’ve come in this last year in getting the Turtle ready to go! A lot of work has gone into it already, and with a little over a month before we hit the road, we still have plenty to do.

We bought the Turtle from a couple who were the original owners, and who had taken such good care of it over the years. But while it was in great shape, we wanted to update and customize it, making it our own little home.

We weren’t super great about taking photos initially, because it was so far from where we wanted it to be that it didn’t occur to us that we’d want “Before” photos! And I don’t think we have any of it with carpet, since Andy was such a go-getter that he ripped it out almost immediately. You’ll have to use your imagination there. 🙂

So here’s where it began.

Minutes after buying the Turtle!

The loft

The bathroom

So. Much. Brown.

Our exciting new adventure!

Hello there, fellow adventure-seekers!

We are Andy and Amy from Portland, Oregon, and we’re about to set out on an exciting new chapter of our lives together. It’s going to be awesome.

This year we bought a charming little RV, which we have named The Turtle! It’s a 1985 Ford “Turtle Top” which was in amazing condition, considering its age. We have some serious plans for making our little Turtle look bright and funky, function perfectly, and with Andy’s metalworking expertise, very Mad Max-y.

So far, we’ve done a ton of work already, and are hoping to be moved into the Turtle by the end of October. We’re on a 2-month countdown, and then our travels begin. We’ve taken so many progress photos already, that I thought now was the time to start documenting our work, so we can have the blog up and running by the time we hit the road!

Follow along and share in our adventure with us!

Amy and Andy (and Scout and Gracie too)

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